BOSTON – The Boston Celtics did more than survive through their toughest month of the season; they thrived through it.
Boston posted a league-best 12-2 record in December, including a remarkable 8-1 mark against teams with a .500 record or better, to maintain its spot atop the league standings heading into 2024.
The starting five earned plenty of warranted praise for their connectedness during that period, but a lot of credit should also be directed toward Joe Mazzulla, whom the league deservedly recognized Thursday afternoon as the Eastern Conference Coach of the Month.
In his second season, Mazzulla has settled in and built a strong command over this group, which isn’t easy for a young coach of a team that is loaded with established stars. Brad Stevens highlighted Mazzulla’s leadership in that regard Thursday afternoon while assessing the team’s progress with the media.
Stevens observed, “I think Joe’s done a great job out of the gate of saying, ‘This is how we need to be. This is what we need to do for each other to be the best that we can be. These are the strengths of your teammates. How can we get those out of them and make it a focal point?’ People use the word sacrifice a lot. It’s the idea of serving a team – Like, being there for the good of the group – And I think he’s done a great job of that all the way through.”
In figuring out how to connect his players and help them get the most out of each other, Mazzulla has the offense rolling at a historic level. Boston’s 126.5 points per game in December represented its second-best offensive month in team history (minimum six games played), trailing only the 126.8 PPG it averaged in January of 1960.
The C’s made a league-high 16.6 3-pointers per game during that stretch at a clip of 39.2 percent.
Boston set the tone for the month with a 125-119 win over the Philadelphia 76ers on Dec. 1. That was followed by a 122-112 loss to the Indiana Pacers in the quarterfinals of the In-Season Tournament, but that would wind up being its only regulation loss of the month.
The Celtics then swept a five-game homestand, starting with a win over the New York Knicks, followed by consecutive miniseries sweeps of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Orlando Magic, respectively.
Following the homestand, Boston went 3-1 on a four-game California road trip. After dropping the first game of the trip in overtime to the Golden State Warriors, the C’s beat the Kings, the Clippers, and finally the Lakers on Christmas Day. They scored a combined 189 points in their wins over the Kings (144-119) and Clippers (145-108), marking the first time in team history that they scored at least 144 points in back-to-back games.
The Celtics wrapped up the month with a pair of home wins against Detroit and Toronto, bringing its home record to a perfect 17-0, before capping off the New Year with a 134-101 win in San Antonio.
To post a 12-2 record in any month is impressive in itself, but to have done it against such a gauntlet of teams is telling of how connected and driven this Celtics group is under the guidance of their second-year head coach.
Mazzulla has now claimed two Coach of the Month Awards in less than a season and a half on the job. Only Doc Rivers (six) and Stevens (three) have more.